Money Launderer Sentenced for Laundering $52 Million for the Sinaloa Cartel as Part of Ongoing Homeland Security Task Force Investigation

SAN DIEGO - Hector Paez-Garcia, who was previously extradited from Panama to the United States on money laundering charges, was sentenced in federal court today to 41 months in custody as part of a Homeland Security Task Force investigation.

According to court records, Paez-Garcia was a high-ranking member of a major money laundering organization working for the Sinaloa Cartel. The organization dispatched couriers around the country to collect drug proceeds from cartel-affiliated dealers. The couriers then deposited the money in U.S. bank accounts for fictitious companies, splitting their deposits between multiple sham accounts and bank branches to avoid detection. From there, the money was often transferred to Mexico-based shell accounts controlled by Paez-Garcia or converted to cryptocurrency. Paez-Garcia, in turn, ensured the money was properly disbursed to the Sinaloa Cartel. From 2020 until his arrest and extradition in 2023, Paez-Garcia assisted the organization in laundering approximately $52 million in illicit drug proceeds.

Since Paez-Garcia's arrest, the United States has continued to dismantle the organization, by charging, extraditing, and convicting several other key money launderers. To date, these efforts have resulted in charges against 51 defendants and the seizure of approximately 1,304 kilograms of methamphetamine, 34 kilograms of heroin, 11 kilograms of cocaine, 14 kilograms of fentanyl, and more than $4.1 million dollars. The head of the organization, Alberto David Benguiat Jimenez, was sanctioned by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control in 2025, as were the shell corporations Paez-Garcia operated.

"When you do the cartel's business, you become our business," said United States Attorney Adam Gordon. "Money laundering is the lifeblood of the cartel business model, allowing criminal organizations to expand their operations and profit from the suffering they cause," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Mark Remily. "The extradition, conviction, and sentencing of Hector Paez-Garcia demonstrate the determination of U.S. law enforcement and our international partners to dismantle these networks. No matter where cartel facilitators hide, justice will find you."

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Benjamin and Robert Miller.

DEFENDANTS Case Number 23-cr-00446-JLS
Hector Paez-Garcia Mexico City, Mexico

SUMMARY OF CHARGES

Conspiracy to Launder Money - Title 18, U.S.C., Section 1956(h)
Maximum penalty: 20 years in prison

INVESTIGATING AGENCIES

Federal Bureau of Investigation
Drug Enforcement Administration

This investigation is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF San Diego comprises agents and officers from FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, DEA, ATF, U.S. Marshals, Department of Defense, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, IRS Criminal Investigation, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Interpol, with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California.